The Red Devils dropped 2 points at Old Trafford as they were held by ex-City legend Vincent Kompany and his troops in a game that truly lacked quality.
The first 20 minutes saw United dominating and controlling the game and creating a couple of good chances. Failure to take them was a sign of what was to come.
But beyond those opening 25 minutes or so, Burnley grew into the game and started to strut their stuff showing us why Kompany had so much praise with them in the first place after gaining promotion last year.
However, much like the home side, the Clarets failed to take any of their good opportunities as well.
Andre Onana was called into action (perhaps a little too often for ten Hag’s liking) to make a couple of top stops particularly from Lyle Foster.
The South African had a great header that required a reflex save from Onana before a one-on-one chance that produced another great stop from the Cameroonian.
Bruno Fernandes was also doing his thing of creating goal scoring opportunities but his teammates let him down with their poor finishing and decision-making.
Bruno himself also hit the post in that first half.
The second period continued in a similar fashion to the first with the only difference being that United had more of the clear-cut chances compared to their opponents.
Alejandro Garnacho and Antony were two who ought to have done better on some of their opportunities that they would eventually go on to rue.
Erik ten Hag then made some surprising changes by taking off striker Rasmus Hojlund for Scott McTominay and replacing Kobbie Mainoo with Amad.
That was met with loud boos from the Old Trafford crowd. That isn’t a great sign.
Many expected Brazilian Antony to be subbed as this is usually what the manager does.
In the end though, ten Hag was proved right by keeping the £85m man on as he eventually managed to take one of his chances. This one was actually harder than the others.
It began by a great piece of reading of the game by Antony as he saw a pass across the back line of Burnley (who had pushed to the halfway line) before taking it into his stride, driving forward and despite feeling some contact by a Burnley defender, kept his feet and slotted it in into the bottom corner.
United take the lead and it appeared a game that needed either a piece of brilliance or a mistake for either side to score.
Speaking of mistakes, drama down the other end.
As it is never easy with this side, United throw away another lead after a fifth penalty in six games was given.
For some stupid reason, Casemiro decides to head the ball back to Onana despite the box being full of players from both sides. Onana comes out but gets the Burnley player instead of the ball and a penalty is rewarded, one that we can’t have too many complaints about.
Zeki Amdouni converts it and is another goal that MUFC concede within a 10-minute period of scoring as Antony’s strike came in the 79th minute and this penalty in the 87th.
The drama didn’t end there as there was one more penalty shout this time by United.
Antony involved again as his cross/shot was blocked by a Burnley defender’s hand. While it was in close proximity and the fact that Antony hit it quite well, a similar instance occurred in last week’s FA Cup semifinal yet Coventry were awarded that spot kick and United not.
One has to ask why one is a penalty and the other isn’t?
Erik ten Hag would be more frustrated than anyone as there wasn’t much more he could've done. Even though his substitutions may have been questionable, it sort of worked as keeping Antony on turned out to be the correct call.
He fielded as strong a side as he could given the circumstances with the inability to put the ball in the back of the net being a major reason as to why he didn’t get the 3 points.
For a man under serious pressure this isn’t what he needed. That is now two wins, four draws and three losses in his last nine Premier League games. United have also conceded 17 goals in that time.
Very poor indeed.
Ratings:
Onana — 7 MOTM
AWB — 5
Casemiro — 4(0 for header)
Maguire — 6.5
Dalot — 5.5
Mainoo — 6
Eriksen — 6
Antony — 6.5
Bruno — 6
Garnacho — 6
Hojlund — 5.5
Amad — 5.5
McTominay — 5
Amrabat — 6
Mount — 6
Erik ten Hag — 6
Final Thoughts
This wasn’t actually the worst performance I’ve seen from United but it wasn’t great either. A game that had its ups and downs with a lot of disappointment coming in the final third.
Yes we can complain about the handball but we shouldn’t have to be thinking about that when looking at the chances we created.
Burnley did have some good opportunities of their own but looking at our weakened defense and midfield, that is going to happen. The fact that Onana was MOTM also sort of tells you the type of game we had.
The biggest issue I have with this draw though, is that it was the most winnable of our final five games. With Palace away, Arsenal and Newcastle at home, and Brighton away on the final day, it’s hard to see where the wins come from.
United are still 6th but after this draw and Newcastle’s win, that gap is now 1 point. Europa League football isn’t ideal but it’s much better than Conference League football.
Drawing this game could come back to haunt us.
Background image: Photo by James Gill - Danehouse/Getty Images via The Busby Babe